A tentative list of the missing in the Bahamas after Hurricane Dorian has 2,500 names, officials reportedly said Wednesday.
However, the nation’s government said those names haven’t yet been checked against rosters listing those who have since evacuated from the islands or are staying in shelters in light of the mass devastation from the storm, according to The Associated Press.
As a result, the list of those missing is likely to shrink, Carl Smith, a spokesman for the Bahamas’ National Emergency Management Agency, told the AP.{mosads}
The death toll in the islands as a result of the hurricane was 50 as of Wednesday, but this count is expected to rise as crews in the Caribbean islands are still looking for survivors. Nearly 70,000 people were left homeless because of the hurricane.
“The number of deaths is expected to significantly increase,” Prime Minister Hubert Minnis said in a national address on Wednesday, according to the AP.
The Bahamas were hit the hardest by Hurricane Dorian, which was a Category 5 storm when it battered the islands with rain and winds for almost two days.
The Trump administration said Wednesday that it will not grant temporary protected status to people from the Bahamas affected by Hurricane Dorian, according to multiple reports.